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Figge, Baldwin scored as Pirelli World Challenge winners after infractions

March 23, 2013

Jack Baldwin sets down the fastest lap in two sessions of practice on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Photo by PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE

Alex Figge, of Denver, Colo., was declared the Pirelli World Challenge GT class winner following post-race technical inspection, while Jack Baldwin, of Marietta, Ga., made a late-race pass to take the GTS win in the opening round of the Pirelli World Challenge Championships on Friday at the St. Petersburg Sports Car Challenge presented by StopTech.

On the track, Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series star Ryan Dalziel made the most of a late yellow flag brought out by the stranded Nissan 370Z GTS of Ric Bushey on lap 26. Dalziel got the jump on the lap 31 restart and passed the K-PAX Racing Volvo S60 of Figge for the lead, taking the checkered flag in first.

However, the front splitter of Dalziel's Porsche 911 GT3 was declared out of compliance in post-race technical inspection, resulting in a disqualification and elevating Figge to his third career victory.

After leading the opening 28 laps from the pole, Figge pushed wide coming off turn one on the restart, opening the door on the inside for Dalziel to take the lead.

Figge had spent the early part of the race lengthening his lead, until the yellow was displayed on lap 26. By lap 21 Figge had extended his lead to six seconds over the field, finding a way to get through traffic without losing much time. Figge picked up rubber from the track behind the pace car during the wave-by for GTS cars under yellow, causing him to lose grip on the exit of turn one.

“I don't know what to say about winning a race in the tech shed,” Figge said once the results had been made final. “Ryan and I are close friends, and I've known the guys at TrueSpeed for a long time. I know they didn't do anything intentional, and you hate to win this way. It's nice to get the points, but I'm looking forward to getting another shot at doing it on the track.”

James Sofronas, of Villa Park, Calif., had a strong race in his Audi R8 LMS. Sofronas was passed at the start by Johnny O'Connell in one of two Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V.R, eventually moving back around the Cadillac and the K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 of Randy Pobst -- inheriting second after the infraction.

O'Connell, of Flowery Branch, Ga., earned a podium in the first race of his title defense after finishing fourth on track. O'Connell chased Dalziel early while he kept Sofronas at bay, until Sofronas earned the position.

In GTS, Baldwin drove his Porsche Cayman S to victory with a turn one pass on polesitter Andy Lee's Chevrolet Camaro on the penultimate lap for his second career Pirelli World Challenge win.

Lee, of Colorado Springs, Co., had a stranglehold on the GTS class for most of the race. Leading up to the yellow flag, thrown on lap 24, Lee had begun to open a gap over Baldwin and the rest of the GTS field.

“As the race progressed, I could run with Andy, we were both deteriorating at about the same rate,” Baldwin said. “I really don't think I had anything for him -- I was looking for something, but I'm not sure. When we hit that caution, I thought it was going to help him more than it helped me. But when the tires cooled down I felt that grip and that was what I needed. I knew I was going to get one shot at him, and we got it done. My hat's off to Andy, he races hard, he races clean, he's a good driver.

“This is great for me. I was born and raised here in Tampa, I've raced here before in St. Pete, so this is my actual home town. It's really great to win here in St. Pete, I love this race and I love this race track.”

Once Baldwin made his move, Lee was able to hold station and take second place.

“I'm OK with [second place],” Lee said. “We had such a long struggle over the off season, just to get this car back together. I can't thank my guys enough for sticking with me, we were up and down all year. The battle with Jack in the last few laps, how many guys get to do that? If I was going to lose to anybody, I'm just glad it was him.

The RealTime Racing Acura TSX of Peter Cunningham finished on the third step of the GTS podium. Cunningham was running fourth on lap 32 when Kevin Gleason's Napleton Porsche Cayman S dove past Cunningham into turn one and got into the rear of Lawson Aschenbach's Chevrolet Camaro. Aschenbach spun with damage to his rear bumper, elevating Cunningham to his record 113th career podium

“It was hard-fought,” Cunningham said. “It was very tight out there, I could have very easily finished fifth but I got some help from a couple of friends and managed to be on the podium.”

Gleason finished fourth, but was penalized 20 points for the contact. Aschenbach recovered to finish fifth.

Dalziel's disqualification resulted in a loss of points and prize money, as well as qualifying time for Sunday's race. Brett Curtis was penalized 20 points for avoidable contact in a separate incident during the race.